Strengthening the evidence for advancing tobacco control policy in Mexico, Colombia, and India
Programs and partnerships
Lead institution(s)
Summary
The Framework Convention on Tobacco Control, the implementation of which is a specific target (3.a) of the 2030 Sustainable Development Goals, recognises that raising taxes is the most cost effective tobacco control measure.Read more
The Framework Convention on Tobacco Control, the implementation of which is a specific target (3.a) of the 2030 Sustainable Development Goals, recognises that raising taxes is the most cost effective tobacco control measure. India, Mexico and Colombia are all rapidly growing economies with a large share of the youth population and where effective and pro poor means of making smoking unaffordable and improving health outcomes for the over 115 million number of smokers who live in these countries is a critical priority.
The Global Tobacco Economics Consortium, led by the Instituto Nacional de Salud Pública in Mexico, will use the extended cost effective analysis method to estimate the effect at the national and subnational level of tobacco tax increases on health care costs and poverty. It will also deepen the understanding the differential impacts of the household costs of tobacco use on gender over time. The consortium brings together research teams in Colombia, Mexico, and India, who will improve their understanding of how tobacco control policy is developed in their specific country context. This will allow them to better communicate the value of using economic tools and evidence for setting optimal tobacco taxes. The integration of evidence from across these three country contexts will contribute to global literature and momentum for large scale tax increases in low and middle income countries for progress on the Sustainable Development Goals.
This project is funded through the Economics of Tobacco Control Research Initiative, a 5-year IDRC and Cancer Research UK partnership launched in October 2017.